Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Callum
I wake up to chaos. Shouts reach my ears, and I have no choice but to open my eyes—or try to, anyway, because they still feel swollen and it hurts to blink. I peer through slits at the blurry images before me.
After blinking slowly several times, I finally clear away the fuzziness and see who’s doing all the yelling. My damn father, and Danny. They’re facing off like two stubborn rams, ready to headbutt each other, all the while the security team is standing there—along with my bandmates, watching them.
“You have no right to be here. I know for a fact that Callum doesn’t want to see you—not after the last phone call he got from you,” Danny hisses, his face all red and his man-bun coming loose from the back of his head.
“I’m his father—you, on the other hand don’t have a say on what my son wants or needs,” Brian counters, but it’s a weak point. I might be his son by blood but Brian’s far from being a father figure in my eyes.
Danny is right, though. The last person I want to see right now is this jag-off.
“What the hell is going on?” I croak out in a whisper, looking between Brian and Danny.
But no one is paying me any attention. I glance at Tobias, then Dom and Pen’s backs—they are positioned at the end of the bed like two protective sentinels.
“Please?” I stress a little louder, feeling a tight ache in my throat.
Finally, I get everyone’s attention and they all swivel their heads my way.
“Callum,” Pen says, relief settling across his face as he reaches my side.
“Why are you shouting?” I ask, but my attention goes to Dom on my other side for the answer. I don’t know why I’m seeking his guidance. But lately, I’ve been looking to Dom—and sometimes Pen for… Reassurance? I don’t know.
“Your father stormed in here demanding—” Danny begins.
“I have every right to—” Brian barks.
“Fuck you do,” Danny shouts back. “You have no right to be here, not after all the years of—”
I shoot my uninjured hand up—the one with the IV line, to cut off Danny’s rising voice. “Danny, please,” I croak out in a plea.
“I’m sorry.” Remorse coats my friend’s voice. He squeezes past Pen and smiles sadly at me. “How are you feeling?”
I take a moment to analyze myself, and the pain radiating from my face and my arm. “I hurt… my face especially.” Right down to my eyeballs.
“I want everyone out of here,” Brian booms out. “My son doesn’t need—”
“That’s a good idea.” A man standing in the doorway interrupts Brian. He walks in, dressed in blue scrubs. “And it starts with you, sir.” He points to Brian.
Thank you. Brian’s shouting is adding to the pounding in my head.
“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Brian leans toward what I assume is a nurse and snarls. It’s his strategy to intimidate. Brian has done that to me and to my mum for most of my life.
“Back off or I’ll show you what exactly what I can do.
” The beautiful nurse raises a hand and huffs, before smoothing down the front of his scrub shirt.
“I’m Lyric, Mr. Fitz’s nurse. And if you don’t quiet down, I’ll have you thrown out of the hospital quicker than you can shout spit, and you will not be able to enter again. Understand me, sir?”
“Damn,” Raef mumbles quietly in awe, but I still hear him.
“But I’m his family,” Brian argues, calmer now. “They are not.”
I slowly look around at my bandmates —my best friends since I was a kid, and at the security team I’ve known since we started this journey into the rock world.
I glance at the familiar looking nurse and say, “He’s wrong.
These people are my family.” Then I realize the one person I want to see isn’t here.
“Where’s Mum? Danny and Mum are the only ones on my emergency contact list.” I glare—or try to, at Brian.
He doesn’t meet my eyes. “She’s at home,” he says with cold frankness. “I answered your mother’s phone—and thank God, too.”
I blink. “Why didn’t she come?” But I know the answer before he speaks, and it makes an ache bloom in my chest.
“She doesn’t need to see you in this… condition,” he says, waving his hand toward me as though I’m an inconvenience.
“You didn’t tell her I’m in the hospital, did you?” My voice, scratchy and weak from pain, still crackles with ire. But I know the truth from the pinched expression in the corner of his eyes. “You didn’t tell her that I was hurt?”
“Trust me—”
“But I don’t trust you,” I say bluntly, giving him a dose of his own medicine. “Not after this. What are you into now, Brian?”
“What are you talking about?” There’s confusion in his eyes, but I’m not buying it.
“This,” I say hoarsely, pointing at my face. “Your shit is bringing trouble to my doorstep.”
I try to sit up, but Pen lays a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t move.”
Lyric claps his hands to get everyone’s attention.
“You all can go to the waiting room down the hall right now. I’m only allowing two at a time in Mr. Fitz’s room.
” He huffs, then looks at Dom before continuing.
“And since his bodyguards won’t leave, then only two more of you can stay.
” He raises a finger. “However, if there are any more disturbances in here, I’ll be calling hospital security and I’m going to kick everyone out—I don’t care who it is.
” Then Lyric folds his arms across his chest and slides a brook-no-argument frown onto his face.
“The nurse is right. Dom and Pen will remain here for protection” Tobias nods at them, “and Bobby and Mr. Fitz senior can stay. The rest of us will head to the waiting room.”
Danny gasps, and pulls out a stick of gloss and slathers his lips as he glares up at his boyfriend.
“For a few minutes only,” Tobias adds and leads my friends out of the room.
“Cool,” Bobby says, talking around a sucker stick protruding from the corner of his mouth.
My eyes slide to Raef, who’s standing there, like he’s frozen in place. His eyes are on the nurse like he’s the Martin D-18E that Kurt Cobain played at the height of his career. The ultimate prize for my friend and the ultimate, near-impossible bucket list item he’s trying to attain.
I want to chuckle at the look on my friend’s face, but I hurt too much to let out a laugh.
Raef has no idea what he’s getting into if he wants to hook up with that nurse. I bet Lyric would lead him on such a crazy chase that my friend wouldn’t know what hit him.
“Raef,” Connor snaps out over his shoulder.
Raef’s eyes jump to our drummer, then to me, and back to Lyric again before he stalks out of the room with a frown. His and Bobby’s security guys, Fig and Jordan, follow right behind Raef.
Fig announces from the doorway, “We’ll stand outside the room and wait.”
“Yep,” Bobby says with a thumbs up.
“This is your final warning, Mr. Fitz. You need to keep your voice down.” Lyric points a no-nonsense glare at him. The nurse then walks over to the side of the bed and quickly checks on me. “Are you in pain?”
“Yeah, a bit,” I admit with a slight groan. Although I’m happy that the room has quieted down.
“Here.” Lyric lifts a small, wired rectangular remote that’s connected to my IV stand, and he places it in my good hand. “This will administer a dose of pain meds into the IV. Just push the button and in a few seconds, you’ll start feeling it work.”
“Could he overdose if he presses too many times?” Dom asks softly as he observes the IV line.
“No, it’s timed. One push for every four hours.” Then Lyric looks at me, “If the pain reliever isn’t working, let me know and I can call the doctor and ask him for something stronger.”
“Okay.” I then press the button, and the pain almost immediately begins to slowly ebb away. “Thank you.”
“If you need anything else, use the call button on your remote.” Lyric places it next to my hand and smiles. He slides a narrowed-eyed frown to Dom and Pen, and a glare at Brian before walking out of the room.
Dom and Pen remain on alert, standing as sentries, as Brian approaches me. “Cal—”
“Dude, your face,” Bobby interjects, his lips in a full frown. He isn’t one for blood—or anything to do with bodily fluids. I’m surprised he didn’t pass out when he came in here. “You really do look like shit.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I slur, feeling more of the effect of the pain meds flooding my system, and I yawn.
“I’m glad you’re okay. But dude…” Bobby’s forehead has a light sheen, and he can’t look me straight in the face. He’s going to be sick.
“Thanks. Now go before you puke all over me,” I say to my friend. And without another word, Bobby bolts out of the room.
“Son.” Brian steps around Dom. His eyes, which look exactly like mine, are glazing over, like he actually cares.
Even doped up, I know better. Still, I’m actually taken aback at the sudden emotion I see in my father. And just as fast as it arose, the split second of concern fades and leaves the bastard I know him to be front and center.
“I don’t know where you come up with this shit, but you can’t blame me for your attack. I’m glad your mother isn’t here to see you like this. I told you that your poofter ways were going to put you six feet under.”
I struggle to get my brain cells in order. I only want to do this once. “The guy called out your name. He said Brian Fitz. So I’m asking again, what shady shit are you in?”
Dom steps in front of Brian and gets in his face. “You best answer his question,” he snarls.
“But I’m not in anything shady.” Brian’s mouth gapes open, like he has more excuses to throw at me. Then he glances at Dom’s hard expression and Brian quickly snaps it shut.
“I’m sure the cops will be real interested in knowing you had something to do with your son’s attack,” Pen adds with a shake of his head.
Dom shifts to the right and I’m able to see Brian’s face. His wide eyes shift from Dom to me. “Callum, don’t you see that I’m trying to—”
I cut him off, not wanting to hear more of his bullshit. “There’s nothing you can say that I want to hear. You’re not a part of my life anymore. You can leave and never come back. And I’ll be changing my number so don’t bother calling me.”
Dom slots his muscular frame between the bed and my father again. “You heard him.”
I look away. The constricting pain in my body continues to ease as the drugs in my system take full effect. However, it doesn’t numb the ache in my heart my father has caused me. I close my eyes, hoping sleep will find me.
“You can leave, Mr. Fitz,” Pen barks out, backing up Dom.
“I’m not—”
“Don’t lie,” Dom warns. “Or I’ll call that nurse back, and he and hospital security can put you out for good. What’ll it be?”
I force my eyes open and see Dom doesn’t wait for Brian to make a decision and hustles my father backward until he is out in the hall.
Pen closes the door and then returns to my side. He reaches for my hand and gently holds it. “Dom’s going to call the detectives who are on your case. I’m sure they will want to know about your father’s involvement. And I promise you Brian Fitz won’t bother you again.”
I squeeze Pen’s hand and smile up at him. “Thanks.” Then I close my eyes again and try to ward off the negativity, but it’s too late. To know that my father is involved in my attack slashes my heart to pieces, and I’m bleeding internally.
I don’t understand why Brian bothered to come.
Was it just to throw more insults at me?
To see the results of his handy work? Yet, his actions don’t make sense…
or is it the drugs in my system? Trying to put his visit out of my head, I cling to Pen’s warm hand and let the numbness from the drugs lull me to sleep.